Alabama and Clemson are still the two best teams

True confession time: I had Alabama and Ohio State 1-2 on my preseason ballot. I felt Alabama was still loaded despite heavy losses of talent and that Urban Meyer had his best defense as the head coach of the Buckeyes.

When Ohio State got boat-raced by Oklahoma and Clemson beat Auburn 14-6 on Sept. 9, I moved the defending national champions into the No. 2 slot.

At the time I wondered if giving Clemson that much love was wise because the Tigers lost so many great players, among them being quarterback Deshaun Watson.

I don’t wonder about that any more. The rest of this article is available to subscribers only – to become a subscriber click here.